Friday, July 29, 2016

BSNYC Friday Fun Quiz!

The announcement did not specify if the team would seek WorldTour status, but said its partners "are committed to the growth and development of the team and will ensure the best conditions for its riders to achieve top results in the biggest races around the world", and "will include internationally renowned athletes. Management is comprised of globally recognised cycling experts, who have been selected for their commitment to a wholly independent and results driven approach."

Presumably the team's commitment to ensuring "best conditions for its riders" means Vincenzo Nibali won't be beaten by Prince Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa with a rubber hose:Mohammed Hassan Jawad (64 yrs old) was blindfolded and handcuffed when Nasser Bin Hamad asked him “do you know who I am, its Nasser with you” Then the son of the king started interrogating Mr. Jawad about the Safriya protest and accusing him of organizing the protest. To force him to confess, Nasser beat Mr. Jawad with a hose on his head until he fell to the ground. Then Nasser started kicking him mostly on his back, while swearing at shia clerics and imams.

TA says scattershot traffic enforcement is a big part of the problem.“The NYPD is falling short on its commitment to consistent, appropriate policing to deter the most deadly driving violations,” said TA Executive Director Paul Steely White in a statement accompanying the report. “Commissioner Bratton and other top police officials don’t even seem to have a clear plan for participation in Vision Zero, and their allocation of traffic enforcement resources does not appear to be based on actual conditions on New York City streets.”Though the majority of cyclists who lost their lives this year were killed by drivers breaking traffic laws, NYPD tends to respond to cyclist fatalities by cracking down on cyclists and publicly blaming victims for their own deaths. This approach epitomizes the department’s failure to direct resources toward enforcement that would actually save lives, says TA.

Nevertheless, many New Yorkers persist in riding bikes, and yesterday I spotted this impressive bike rack trailer setup in Midtown:

I'd be lying if I said I didn't immediately consider the possibility of towing my mountain bike to the trail with my road bike, which may sound silly, but is--if you really think about it--still far more reasonable than driving there.

And now, I'm pleased to present you with a quiz. As always, study the item, think, and click on your answer. If you're right that's wonderful, and if you're wrong you'll see a zombie-proof bicycle.

Thanks very much for reading, ride safe, and enjoy the weekend even though we're all pretty much screwed.

48 comments:

156. In paragraph 127 we pointed out that if the use of a new item of technology is INITIALLY optional, it does not necessarily REMAIN optional, because the new technology tends to change society in such a way that it becomes difficult or impossible for an individual to function without using that technology. This applies also to the technology of human behavior. In a world in which most children are put through a program to make them enthusiastic about studying, a parent will almost be forced to put his kid through such a program, because if he does not, then the kid will grow up to be, comparatively speaking, an ignoramus and therefore unemployable. Or suppose a biological treatment is discovered that, without undesirable side-effects, will greatly reduce the psychological stress from which so many people suffer in our society. If large numbers of people choose to undergo the treatment, then the general level of stress in society will be reduced, so that it will be possible for the system to increase the stress-producing pressures. In fact, something like this seems to have happened already with one of our society’s most important psychological tools for enabling people to reduce (or at least temporarily escape from) stress, namely, mass entertainment (see paragraph 147). Our use of mass entertainment is “optional”: No law requires us to watch television, listen to the radio, read magazines. Yet mass entertainment is a means of escape and stress-reduction on which most of us have become dependent. Everyone complains about the trashiness of television, but almost everyone watches it. A few have kicked the TV habit, but it would be a rare person who could get along today without using ANY form of mass entertainment. (Yet until quite recently in human history most people got along very nicely with no other entertainment than that which each local community created for itself.) Without the entertainment industry the system probably would not have been able to get away with putting as much stress-producing pressure on us as it does.

Forget about Team Bahrain, forget about Sky, next year when Team Russia (aka as Team Putin) puts the pedal to the medal it's Snidely Whiplash curtains time for everyone else. Mother Russia has a truck loads of PEDs that were supposed to go to Olympic athletes, got to put them to use somehow.

Windows 10 has soooo screwed up my computer experience. This week, I have had to "system restore" both my home computer and my laptop. They performed flawlessly with Windows 8. I refused the offered free upgrade which interfered with my computer use for months. Then one morning I awoke to learn that the system had "upgraded" overnight without my permission. I also understand that it cannot be restored to Windows 8 without the help of an expensive computer tech. Now, problems daily.

Screw you, Microsoft...

On the other hand, my Microsoft stock investment has generated impressive returns, so they got that going for them.

Oh, yeah Microsoft. That version 10 turns the computer into an ad-serving appliance more than anything else.

It's time to move off of the Windows. Burn this image to DVD, and reboot with the DVD. http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-8.5.0-amd64-kde-desktop.iso It doesn't do anything to the Windows disk. It all runs in memory, off the DVD.

It should all seem pretty familiar once you get to the desktop. You can google anything that seems mysterious. Plenty of users and tips online. when you are done shut it off and eject the dvd and Windows is still there.

When you are ready to switch. I would buy a new hard drive for the laptop. That way all the windows stuff stays intact and it's only a matter of swapping a drive if you *need* to get back to Windows.

It's true, y'know. Cross training does teach your muscles invaluable tricks. Couple or three decades of mountainbiking, from the Rockies to Whistler and this dumbass developed a set of impressive chicken wings for the the road. Only yes, it's blindingly obvious that chickens can't fly. Took ages to properly tuck 'em in.

I didn't have any trouble with Windows 10, once I figured out how to find everything. But I don't miss it even a little after a lovely young Swede came bearing the gift of a MacBook Pro a couple of months ago. Well, after I found Apple for Idiots, that is. :)

That article about assembling bikes in everyone's favorite ward of federal government spending programs (the State of South Carolina) that were built in East Asia and marketing them as American made was a hoot.

I especially liked that the Republican governor of a Republican state embarked on an auspicious infrastructure program to enrich a private business or that paying 11 bucks an hour was treated like some sort of magnanimous act of Fordism.

I feel like the Dachsund of Time needs another subdivision. "Right About Now" jumps way too quickly back to "Back in the Day" which seems like it would always be about 20-30 years ago. We need something for the last 10-15 years. How about "Awhile Back."

Mayor De-Blasé-oh is going to find a new police commissioner just like Bratton, so don't expect any real vision zero.

The off-duty cop who killed a man in Brooklyn on July 4th is on desk duty. The off-duty cop who killed someone while drunk driving a minivan a couple of weeks ago was fired, but the 3 other off-duty cops in the minivan are so far in the clear. I don't think the off-duty copy who came out of his car waving a gun at those bike messengers he cut off in June has been disciplined at all.

Police are also revenue agents since municipal budgets don't fund what it really costs to run a police department. I suspect they can bring in more revenue per cop with tinted window tickets than by going after speeders and other traffic infractions committed by drivers. But the red light and speeding cameras are too politically unpopular even though they would bring in more revenue and perhaps improve safety by changing driver behavior. (Except for the cities that shorten the yellow light time to boost revenues after installing a camera at the light, that leads to more accidents.)

So is that just a mountain unicycle or was it a fat unicycle. The Dick Break seems superfluous - if you're moving too fast to slow it down with your legs can you stop it with the Dick Break without falling off it? And I think it should have a dropper post and full suspension while they're at it.

God forbid he might end up with a discount store level unicycle, the unicycle Freds would unleash their scorn on him.

DOP it would also be difficult for NYC to budget the full cost of the police department without offsets from tickets and civil forfeitures. But at least the police could follow TA's suggestions - ticket drivers for speeding, running red lights and stop signs, not yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks, using cellphones while driving. Plenty of revenue there and it might just bring about changes in driving behavior that save the lives of more vulnerable road users.

PS I think the cops have a thing about windows tinted too dark as there have been a few police shot from behind such tinted windows over the years.

However, in my considered engineering-ignorant opinion, it sits too low to the ground. Its underside would regularly scrape the ground over irregular surfaces. And those small (I'd guess 'em to be 16") wheels would send a shuddering jolt throughout the entire rig with every minor bump in the road. Given it looks to be a custom job, you'd wanna hope it was robustly constructed lest it fall apart at an inopportune moment.

Finally, and most importantly, what's that refuse in the foreground of the photo under discussion? It looks to be a discarded paper bag or squished pizza box. There appears to be corporate branding on it which I can't quite make out...

Frankly, you should take your dog's advice and draft the heck out of that trailer, but why I write is to ask how you attached your bell to you brifters. It looks to be glued or, (heaven forfend!) screwed into place.

+1000 to ridding your computer of Windows (and any of Apple's ho-hum for that matter - it was a good thing that happened when Steve Jobs migrated to the cloud).

There are more Linux distributions than you can poke a stick at on the interwebs. Search for Ubuntu, LinuxMint, Fedora, Debian, Slack and Puppy to name a few and pick one you like (hint - LinuxMint and Ubuntu are both excellent).

Linux distributions are to computers what artisinal, handcrafted steel bikes and leather accessories are to bikes.

Cyclists around where I live mainly stick to off-road trails, so there aren't really too many bike fatalities. So I didn't realize that drivers in New York were more of a problem to cyclists than cyclists being distracted by headphones!

In my city, we do have a huge problem with pedestrian safety since everyone walking seems to always be slumped over their phones with headphones on. Joggers too. It's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured.

If Fake Ted K. were to qualify for membership on the Bahrain suckling team, I'd seriously lobby that he be beaten with a rubber hose (or any other heavy and/or pointy object) by Prince Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

I didn't see you at the Brompton World Championships in London today, WCRM. They really should invite you next year. Your report on it would be absolutely priceless. The Brooks blog should report on it at least, given the high proportion of 'race' bikes fitted with their saddles.

You can stay at our house if they won't pay for a hotel. We're just up the road from Eric the Chamferer.

Crosspalms! In town for the weekend with the Mrs. Saw Book of Mormon, ate at Hugo's and Friend's Sushi, cocktails at Oak Street beach and breakfast at Nookie's. Walked down Michigan yesterday and today to the Art Institute and the Cultural Center. Had to weave through all the inappropriately dressed young ladies headed for Lolopollusa. Haven't seen that many breasts in years. What a great town.

did I miss anything while wifey and I were in the deep southern US,specifically,SC?we did make a stop in savannah,though.leroy,sorry...we didn't make it to perry rubber.instead we cooled our heels in a drinking establishment near the river.better than being in the near 100 US degree day.next time.thanks for the tip,though.tell your dog that the dog days of summer were definitely were there as i'mn sure he knows.

About Me

While I love cycling and embrace it in all its forms, I'm also extremely critical. So I present to you my venting for your amusement and betterment. No offense meant to the critiqued. Always keep riding!